Softening the Blow
by HecateA
Summary: Remus isn't use to receiving such a homecoming on the morning after the full moon. Oneshot. This is just fluff.


**Author's Note:** So I realised earlier today that at some point over the last week I passed the 400 story mark, which is absolutely crazy. Here's a celebration story!

**Disclaimer:** The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings:** NA

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**Stacked with:** MC4A; Terms of Services; Shipping War

**Individual Challenge(s):** Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; In a Flash; Fortress (Y)

**Representation(s):** Auror Tonks

**Bonus challenge(s):** Middle Name; Second Verse (Ladylike); Chorus (Machismo); White Dress; Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Creature Feature; Surprise!; Esbat; Sailor Take Warning

**Tertiary bonus challenge:** NA

**Word Count:** 778

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_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team):** Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)

**List (Prompt):** Spring Big List (Pillow Fort)

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**Softening the Blow**

_Hold me close and hold me fast_

_The magic spell you cast_

_This is La Vie En Rose_

_When you kiss me heaven sighs_

_And though I close my eyes_

_I see La Vie En Rose_

_When you press me to your heart_

_I'm in a world apart_

_A world where roses bloom_

_-Louis Armstrong, La Vie en Rose_

He dragged himself up the last flight of stairs feeling every single bone and joint and tendon in his body screech in protest. Ideally, he'd have been able to Apparate directly onto their balcony, or at least on their floor's landing. The defensive spells they'd set up around the flat made that impossible, unfortunately, but they were non-negotiable. And there was no way that he'd tell Dora how difficult the stairs were on mornings like these.

It wasn't that this full moon had been particularly harsh—they were all harsh. He'd just come into this one more tired and groggy than usual, was all. He'd known that this would happen given how hectic the last week had been—the Order had been scrambling since Dumbledore's death, he'd landed shifts at Flourish and Blott's that he couldn't afford to turn down, and he and Dora had been moving in piece by piece all week.

Still, he had to take a break when he reached the door, resting his forehead against the door and catching his breath. When the world spun a little bit less, he looked up again and unlocked the front door. Even if it was only an hour after sunrise, he heard movement and activity in the flat.

"It's just me," he called. "Remus John Lupin. My favourite tea is Earl Grey, yours is the strawberry rhubarb—in the yellow box, not the loose leaves."

"What did I wear at our wedding?" Dora called back.

"It was a white dress with a black ribbon around the waist and you looked beautiful," he called back. "Also your hair was lavender."

"Both the right answer and the best answer. Good morning!" Dora called back. He managed to kick off his shoes before walking further into the flat, bathed in light, and seeing the living room which had gotten quite the makeover.

The cardboard boxes they'd yet to unpack had been stacked into walls on either side of the couch, and they held up an assortment of blankets that tented over the sofa. Pillows had been brought in from the bedroom and quite possibly multiplied by a very well-placed gemino to turn the floor into something of a cloud.

Dora was standing in the kitchen, and some worry lines Remus hated to think about causing disappeared from her forehead when she saw him. She wore sweatpants and one of his t-shirts and her hair was a pleasant sky blue colour, braided back and pinned into a bun with a massive clip.

"Hi," she said, coming towards him gently and pecking his lips. "You okay?"

"I'm okay," he confirmed. He propped himself against the wall and looked around. "What have you been up to?"

"I couldn't sleep without you," she said. She poured him a glass of water.

"Dora…" Remus said. "This is going to happen once a month…"

"I know," she said defensively. "I was just worried about whether or not you'd be able to sleep things off today, you know, in the new place. So I made this."

She gestured vaguely at the blanket fortress.

"I figured having a soft place to land might soften the blow," she said.

Remus smiled. "Will you be joining me in this soft place?"

"Naturally," Dora smiled. When she pushed a stray strand of hair from her face, her wedding ring glinted. Remus couldn't quite explain what that little reminder that this softness would last forever did to him, other than say that it made him so, so happy with an asterisk that this was a gross understatement.

He drank his water, put the glass down, and reached out his hand. Dora smiled, took it, and dragged him over to the couch.

"You're a big softie for an Auror," he said, resting his head on her stomach. She ran her hands through his hair, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Just for you," she said.

"I'll take it," he said, feeling himself sink into the pillows and the blankets and into her. "Didn't you have work today?"

"Shh," she said. Her fingernails dragged against his skin ever so softly. "I banked a wild amount of overtime while you were gone. We're making up for it now. Now shut up and nap, I made you a napping palace for it."

"Okay," he agreed, his eyes fluttering shut.


End file.
